She _saluted_ Elizabeth. We are not told what this salutation was, but we know that words were spoken, because Elizabeth _heard_ them. "The voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears," she says. It was probably just the form of salutation customary among the Jews: "The Lord is with you!" But what a different meaning the words have on Mary's lips! She, the Mother of the Word Incarnate, has brought Him with her to the house of Zachary. The Lord Himself is indeed there in a way that He has never been before. John the Baptist, yet unborn, understands the salutation, and leaps to adore his GOD; and at that moment JESUS, Whose work on earth has already begun, cleanses His Forerunner from the stain of original sin. Elizabeth also understands in what sense the words are spoken; for the Holy Ghost, Who has been doing great things for her too, has communicated to her the heavenly secret about the Mother and the Child. She is expectant and ready for her Visitors, and when Mary gives her wondrous salutation: "The Lord is with you," filled with the Holy Ghost she answers: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb"; and then she thinks of the great honour which GOD is showing to her home by permitting Mary with her Child to visit it. "Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" Next she tells Mary of the joy that has been caused within her, and adds: "Blessed art thou that hast believed, for all that the Lord hath spoken about the Child will now be accomplished." Thus Mary receives the blessed assurance that all is true--not that she doubted, and not that she needed any confirmation, but it must, nevertheless, have been a comfort to her to hear herself called "The Mother of my Lord," and that by one who had not heard the news from any human lips. It was because Elizabeth was "filled with the Holy Ghost" that she saw all so clearly and believed that Mary was indeed the Mother of GOD. It is a truth which many people in the twentieth century have not yet grasped. The reason is that they have not yet grasped the meaning of the Incarnation. "_Nos cum prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria._" ("May Mary the Virgin bless us with her Holy Child.") _Point III._--MARY'S THIRD WORD